Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

For the past six decades, Gourmet magazine has shaped the tastes of America, publishing the best work of the foremost names in the world of food. To create this landmark cookbook, editor in chief and celebrated authority Ruth Reichl and her staff sifted through more than 50,000 recipes. Many were developed exclusively for Gourmet's test kitchens. Others came from renowned food writers and chefs and from the magazine's far-flung readers. Then the editors embarked on an extraordinary series of cook-offs to find the most unforgettable dishes, testing and retesting each one to ensure impeccable results. This collection, the only one of its kind, spans a vast range of cultures and cuisines. With it, you can go back to the time when Beef Wellington ruled the table or prepare something as contemporary as Crispy Artichoke "Flowers" with Salsa Verde. And whether you're cooking a simple supper for two or throwing a cocktail party for fifty, you'll make every dish with more flavor and more flair using The Gourmet Cookbook. It includes:

102 hors d'oeuvres, dips, chips, pâtés, and first courses

exciting vegetable dishes  more than 120 in all  using everything from artichokes to yuca

versatile recipes for every available kind of seafood, with many suggested substitutes

hundreds of simple but exceptional dinners

festive dishes for every occasion, including a perfect roast turkey with stuffings, the ultimate standing rib roast, and even a gorgeous (but easy) wedding cake

definitive versions of all the classics, from Chicken Kiev to Crème Brûlée and from Bouillabaisse to Pad Thai

more than 50 pastas and risottos, from quick everyday meals to party dishes

With engaging introductions to each chapter by Ruth Reichl, entertaining headnotes, indispensable information about ingredients and techniques, hundreds of tips from Gourmet's test kitchens, and an extensive glossary, The Gourmet Cookbook is the essential kitchen companion for anyone who wants one-of-a-kind recipes and spectacular results every time.

Review

"If you could dream up the perfect cookbook, it might look something like this: easy recipes for days when you're spent and just want something quick and filling; pull-out-all-the-stops recipes for when you want to spend an entire week working on Saturday night's meal; instructions for tasks like cleaning mussels and making pastry dough; introductions and mini-essays explaining recipes' origins and the techniques they involve; and an overall panache and intelligence. Gourmet magazine's editors have achieved such a feat with this sensational doorstopper of a cookbook, a sort of sophisticated cousin to the hallowed Joy of Cooking, and a savvy, cosmopolitan aunt to Mark Bittman's essential How to Cook Everything.Reichl, the magazine's editor-in-chief and the author of Comfort Me With Apples and other books, took on a monstrous task in creating the book, and the result is an assortment of recipes for practically everything you'd ever want to make. She and her colleagues  including Gourmet executive food editor Zanne Stewart and executive editor John Willoughby  ransacked 60 years' worth of back issues to come up with over 1,200 recipes (down from 50,000, says Reichl in her introduction) that encompass the best of American cuisine  and by American we mean everything that's cooked in America, from burgers to baklava. Recipes come from chefs, food authorities like Marcella Hazan and Madhur Jaffrey, and readers. Reichl and her team tested and retested every one of them.Experienced and novice home cooks will find recipes for memorable versions of dishes they've heard about but never attempted: concoctions like Coq au Vin, Beef Wellington, Coulibiac, Chop Suey, Bananas Foster, and Black Forest Cake. They'll also come across intriguing alternatives, like Herbed Lima Bean Hummus, Tandoori Shrimp and Mango Salad, Mortadella- and Truffle-Stuffed Pork Loin with Rosemary Roast Potatoes, and Dark Chocolate-Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches. Even basics get their due, in fabulous treatments of Pizza Margherita, Greek Salad, Pasta with Tomato and Basil, and Sugar Cookies. Every chapter begins with an overview of its subject; each recipe has an introduction; and many dishes feature helpful 'cook's notes,' which give tips for food preparation, technique and storage. Despite the book's heft (it's about as big as a Manhattan phone book, with two bound-in ribbons), and even though it contains no photographs, readers may find themselves bringing it to bed with them at night. They'll lazily consider making Currant Tea Scones when they wake up the next morning, or read up on how to make perfect chocolate cigarettes  and if sugarplum fairies don't visit them in their dreams, perhaps Reichl and her posse of food angels will. 300 line drawings. 250,000 first printing. (On sale Sept. 28)Forecast: Houghton Mifflin is determined to make the book's release a publishing event, and rightly so. The house plans a $1,000,000 marketing campaign, national appearances by Reichl (kicking off with a September 28 Today Show appearance), national TV appearances by Stewart, a national radio drive-time tour with Willoughby, a 20-city author tour, and print ads in major newspapers and magazines. A video on the making of the cookbook will be available for use in bookstores." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis

For beginners and seasoned cooks alike, The Gourmet Cookbook is an eloquent, essential companion in the kitchen  one that will take its place among the classic cookbooks of our generation. Under the discerning eye of the celebrated authority Ruth Reichl, the editors of America's premier cooking magazine sifted through more than 60,000 recipes published over the past six decades. Testing, tasting, and cross-testing to ensure that every cook achieves the same superb results, they selected more than 1,000 recipes.

The Gourmet Cookbook is encyclopedic but eminently accessible. With it, cooks can go back to the days when Beef Wellington ruled the table or prepare something as contemporary as Crispy Artichoke "Flowers" with Salsa Verde. Those in a hurry who want simple dinners with flavor and flair will find hundreds of possibilities, including Seared Salmon with Balsamic Glaze and Skirt Steak Fajitas with Lime and Black Pepper. At the same time, The Gourmet Cookbook is the perfect volume for entertaining, full of adventurous recipes for special occasions: Blini with Three Caviars, Fragrant Crispy Duck, and Tiramisu Ice Cream Cake.

Throughout the book you'll find hundreds of valuable tips from Gourmet's eight test kitchens. Illustrated instructions explain everything from how to cut up a chicken to how to shuck an oyster.

Synopsis

For beginners and seasoned cooks alike, "The Gourmet Cookbook" is an eloquent, essential companion in the kitchen--one that will take its place among the classic cookbooks of this generation. Illustrated instructions explain everything from how to cut up a chicken to how to shuck an oyster. Two-color throughout.

About the Author

Ruth Reichl joined Gourmet as Editor in Chief in April 1999. She came to the magazine from The New York Times, where she had been the restaurant critic since 1993. As chef and co-owner of The Swallow Restaurant from 1974 to 1977, she played a part in the culinary revolution that took place in Berkeley, California. In the years that followed, she served as restaurant critic for New West and California magazines. In 1984, she became restaurant critic of the Los Angeles Times, where she was also named food editor. Reichl began writing about food in 1972, when she published a book called Mmmmm: A Feastiary. Since then, she has authored the critically acclaimed, best-selling memoirs, Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me With Apples. She is the editor of The Modern Library Cooking Series, released in March 2001. She has also written the introductions for Nancy Silverton's Breads from the La Brea Bakery: Recipes for the Connoisseur (1996) and Measure of Her Powers: An M.F.K. Fisher Reader (2000). She is currently working on Remembrance of Things Paris and a third memoir.

Reichl has been honored with three James Beard Awards (two for restaurant criticism, in 1996 and 1998, and one for journalism, in 1994) and with numerous awards from the Association of American Food Journalists. She holds a B.A. and an M.A. in the History of Art from the University of Michigan, and lives in New York City with her husband, Michael Singer, a television news producer, and their son.